Batman BeginsReleased: June 15, 2005 (US)

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BATMAN BEGINS - film reviewBy Mark Geraghty

Christopher Nolan, the British film maker, who had won acclaim for his cryptic crime thriller Momento, successfully reinvigorated the Batman movie franchise with his 2005 Batman Begins. The late 1990s had seen Joel Schumacher deliver Batman Forever and Batman & Robin and, in both cases, style won out over substance as the franchise plunged back in to the dark old days of the kitschy 1960 television show. The creative turkey that was Batman & Robin saw the top executives at Warner Bros pull the pin on any further Schumacher films and the franchise, which had started so positively with Tim Burton’s darker version of the Dark Knight, was put on hiatus. Jump forward eight years and Batman fans were deeply concerned about what to expect from Nolan’s version.

Warner Bros has gotten on to the front foot and their marketing of the film placed a focus on the characters and their relationships. News of the cast has been met with a largely positive response, with the likes of Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Rutger Hauer, Liam Neeson, Ken Watanabe and Cillian Murphy supporting Christian Bale in the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman. It was a serious cast, all of whom were regarded for their ability to bring characters to life with nuanced, moving performances. It may be unfair to say, but Katie Holmes, as Bruce Wayne’s love interest Rachel Dawes, was the only person who seemed out-of-place in this otherwise stellar cast. The history of cinema, however, has many examples of films where a great cast has not resulted in a great movie. The success of a movie relies very much on its screenplay and the director’s ability to bring it to life.

Batman Begins is really two films in one and its structure is a metaphor for the duality that exists in Bruce Wayne, as he struggles to reconcile the memory of a defenceless young boy who witnessed his parent’s murder against his rite-of-passage as an adult who has the ability to protect him and those he loves. Nolan uses the first part of the movie to take the viewer of Bruce’s journey to manhood and his efforts to equip himself with the skills that he will need to make a difference when returns to Gotham City. What audiences get with Batman Begins story structure and its on-screen execution is the very best mix of a hugely talented film-maker in Nolan and a very experienced comic book adapter in David S. Goyer; having written all three Blade films to that time, as well as the hugely under-rated Alex Proyas film Dark City.

If there was any doubt in any Batman fans mind about the tone that Nolan was going to take with this new version, the first thirty minutes of Batman Begins leaves little doubt. It’s a serious story about a serious topics; murder and revenge. When Bruce Wayne’s opportunity to get his revenge is ‘stolen’ from him, he begins a quest that sees him leave Gotham and travel the world as a vagrant. Arrested for being part of a gang stealing Wayne Enterprises technology, Bruce ends up in an Asian prison. While in prison, he toughens both his mind and body with endless confrontations with other prison inmates. His tenacity comes to the attention of a westerner named Ducat, played by Liam Neeson, who arranges for Bruce to join his mercenary army – The League of Shadows. Ducat trains Bruce in a range of fighting techniques and physical arts but, when pushed to execute a man unjustly, Bruce rebels against his teacher and his teacher’s master – Rhaz-Al-Gul. Bruce fights his way out of the League’s compound, but not before a large amount of destruction has been wrought. Bruce saves an unconscious Ducat from sliding to his death when he is thrown clear of one of the buildings by an explosion. Wayne makes contact with Alfred, played by the marvellous Michael Caine, and his loyal butler greets him with in his private plane with news that corporate politics has engulfed his family’s company.

Bruce’s return to his home town marks the start of the film’s main plot, and a central theme of all three Nolan films; namely, the peril of Gotham. Bruce comes to the conclusion that force of fear must be met with an even greater force of fear and becomes the Batman as a metaphor for the type of reaction he wants from Gotham’s crime lords. It’s interesting to examine the cause that Bruce Wayne fights to protect; the maintenance of a class-based society where the rich get richer and the poor stay poor. It’s an extremely right-wing approach to comic book crime fighting and very much at odds with the great majority of comic book move adaptations. The concept of the vigilante, as Batman is, fits well into this right-wing view. Self-determinism is a big part of the conservative values; especially in the United States. Batman is the ultimate vigilante, as he co-opts Gotham’s law enforcement officials into working with him, displaying far greater capability and determination to do what the police are no allowed to. Jim Gordon, played by Gary Oldman, recognises this before anyone else and takes the opportunity to use Batman’s vigilantism to his advantage. The pair arrive at an understanding to truly beat Gotham’s criminals Batman, at times, must work outside the law.

Morgan Freeman plays Lucius Fox, a long-time employee of Wayne Enterprises. Upon Bruce's return to the Gotham and the family company, Fox shows him some of the work that Wayne Enterprises has been investing in over the years. Access to high-end technology enable Bruce to take his crime-fighting exploits beyond what even he could have imagined and are symbolised by The Tumbler, an all-purpose armoured military vehicle that Bruce transforms into the new Batmobile.

Batman Begins really takes off with the entrance of Dr Crane aka Scarecrow, played by Cillian Murphy. Murphy brings an edginess to his performance as the Doctor who has inhaled one drug too many and has fallen into the wrong circles. Although he’s not the ultimate mastermind of the plot against Gotham, he steals every scene he’s in, as his manic Scarecrow makes Christian Bale’s Batman look leaden by comparison. Nolan and Wally Pfister, the film’s director of photography, use the Scarecrow’s weaponised hallucinogen to great effect throughout, as his victim’s exposure to the drug creates powerful psychotic visions. The Scarecrow’s own exposure to the drug results in the mind-bending image of a vampiric Batman oozing black bile from his gaping maw as he assaults Crane to get information about the plot to terrorise Gotham City. The set-piece in Arkham Asylum is a great visual showcase about everything that is good about Batman Begins; which is an awful lot!

The re-emergence of Liam Neeson’s Ducat reveals who is truly behind the plot to tear down Gotham. Bruce comes to understand almost too late that Ducat is really Raz-Al-Gul and The League of Shadows have been behind everything and that Bruce’s ‘discovery’ by Ducat/Raz earlier in the film was no accident. Once again, Bruce is forced to fight his way through the League’s soldiers, this time in his own home – Wayne Manor. Forced into action with an attack upon his beloved Gotham, Batman confronts Raz-Al-Gul on the monorail system that Thomas Wayne had sponsored for the benefit of all Gotham’s citizens. It’s highly symbolic that Batman, the protector of Gotham, ensures that a literal manifestation of his father’s legacy to the city must be destroyed in order to save its people. It’s another example of the layered duality that Nolan and Goyer embedded into the screenplay of Batman Begins.

Upon its release in June 2005, the film performed solidly without smashing box office records. There’s no doubt the Schumacher effect played a part in making movie-goers sceptical that this film would be any different to the last. Fortunately, Batman Begins did enough global box office for Warner Bros to commit to another outing. The last minutes of Batman Begins pave the way for The Dark Knight, as Jim Gordon tells Batman that the criminal he’s currently investigating leaves a calling card, revealing a Joker. Like everything that has taken place in the preceding 135 minutes, this scene epitomises why Batman Begins is one of the best comic book film adaptations of all time. It treats the audience with respect, it doesn’t sensationalise the potential presence of the Joker in a follow-up film and, most importantly, it’s an authentic part of the developing relationship between, arguably, the two most important characters in Gordon and Batman, who, in reality, are the light and the dark of the same purpose.

Two sides of the same coin ... The relationship between Jim Gordon and Batman is the key to stopping the crime in Gotham. Gordon, played by the wonderful Gary Oldman, recognises that Batman can do things that the Police simply can not to get the job done.